Looking for Ancestors in the Wrong Place? (Genealogy Research Tip)

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Check out other reasons why you might not be finding records: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZjPiKiKiM6id9E

[@conniebunte2206]

The "Map Guide to the U. S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920" by William Thorndike and William Dollarhide lives on my desk. I also have an old Handybook for Genealogists that gives founding dates and parent counties. Absolutely vital to doing research.

[@bekgilbert6562]

I'm having this issue in my direct maternal line with placing my Transylvanian ancestors because of how the political boundaries of Hungary, Transylvania, Romania, and Austria changed so often between 1600-1950.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

That is such a tricky area of the world to research!

[@familytreexcel]

The interactive maps really help to see how the landscapes changed over time. Never knew Philadelphia County was as big as it was during the Revolution. Very helpful, thanks!

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Glad it helped!

[@imars]

Had this happen to an ancestor of mine. Her American records show that she was born in Bavaria. Then I found a near match in a database showing her birth in the Rheinland Palatinate, which was part of Bavaria from 1815 to 1946!

[@pjsisseck915]

Ancestor "TF" was born roughly 1750, and died about 1818. So he lived in the British Colonies, then the United States. He grew up in Virginia, moved to Kentucky Territory, which became another state. After his arrival in KY, he lived in at least five different counties. Not sure he even moved as an adult! Add in the variety of ways his names were spelt, some of them rather creative, he has been a hard guy to pin down!

[@kevinwoodside3691]

Thanks Amy - great video and resource, just discovered you and subscribed! I had an interesting time researching an ancestor born in 1871 in Chicago trying to determine how close he lived to the Chicago Fire later the same year. Finding a resource for the changes in street names as well as another that tracked the change to the entire street numbering system in 1906 were essential in that. Translating those old street names and numbers also led me to learning that he lived one block away from the Chicago Stockyards, where he worked, at it's nasty peak. Great insight into his life and the history of the city that relied on understanding how the city changed underneath him.

[@kathyastrom1315]

A lot of my grandmother’s family was from Rochester, NY. It took me a little while to realize that New York had TWO Rochesters! The one most people outside of New York know is the City of Rochester in Monroe County, far north in the state. But, there is also a Town of Rochester, which is in Ulster County, much closer to NYC, that my family is from. I have to be careful when researching to pin down which one I’m looking at!

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

I've seen the same thing happen with townships in the Midwest. "Bloom Township, Ohio" could be in at least 3 different counties (all in different parts of the state)!

[@HoosierSHU]

This is something I dealt with but dealing with European countries. If you are searching for areas in France, their records might actually be in Germany.

[@patshelby9285]

There was a change I think in the state line between north and south Carolinas. And many shifting county names all over the colonies.

[@jeanjohnson8492]

YOU NEED TO GO TO THE US Genweb and see the chart on the counties in NC. They have the parent counties as well as historical counties that no longer exist such as Glasgow County. I do not believe that the state line between North Carolina and South Carolina changed, but it could have. There was at least one county in North Carolina that became part of Georgia, however. There are also some counties in Virginia that you might find records for in North Carolina.

[@susangreene4112]

More recently, addresses changed with the advent of the 911 system - houses and businesses with rural route addresses were given street addresses with building numbers.

[@alexandrazimmerman8912]

This was what jumped to my mind, which in modern times is something that those searching for birth parents or have NPE event in their tree might need to be more readily aware of!

[@BarbLaFara]

My great-grandparents address changed, but they did not move, in 1898. The street was renamed AND the numbering was changed too! I found the change info in a section of the city directory, and also in the minutes of the city planning board.

[@krisludwinski9077]

Thanks for this informative info - I know it will come in handy as I work on my family research!

[@sharontabor7718]

Someone who received a Revolutionary War Bounty/Land Warrant for property in the western parts of NC and VA may or may not have moved. The tax rolls for TN and KY (replacing 1790 and 1800 missing census records) may show a land owner who never actually lived in those states. And if they did move, and lived on land that became part of KY or TN, it gets very complicated. For example, if a family is found in the southern part of the western territory of Virginia before 1792, they will be found in Virginia, but in Kentucky after 1792. As the population grew, there was a fast expansion of county boundaries that changed quickly and often. Tennessee became a state in 1796 (taken from NC territory), and when surveyed a 15-mile wide discrepancy was found in the Kentucky boundary. Between 1796-1820, the southern KY and northern TN boundary changed often (it's called Walker's Line - the original surveyor being Dr. Thomas Walker). In 1820, the states came to a decision that set the current lines. Therefore, between 1780-1820, a family could have lived in 3 states (VA, KY, TN, KY or NC, TN, KY, TN) and 7 counties (for example; Lincoln, Logan, Warren, Allen, Simpson Co, KY: Sumner, Smith Co, TN) and never moved.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

That area is a fascinating one to research. You bring up a great point about tax records. Real property taxes are levied (generally) where the land is, not where the owner lives. As you noted in those cases of military bounty land, the owner often never moved there. You also see this with early sales of land from federal land offices. That first purchaser was sometimes a land speculator, who never intended to move there, just make some money selling land he bought for cheap.

[@susangreene4112]

I have a book detailing all the county changes in Virginia. In the beginning, almost the entire state was Goochland County, which has morphed over the years into many different counties.

[@CeliaLewis]

I totally love the Newberry Library County Boundary Changes atlas - fun to use, and so helpful for those confusing ancestors!! Thanks for the excellent video.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

You are so welcome!

[@rikwen96]

Thanks for these sources. I have a lot of relatives in Tennessee and I have found not only does the county name change, but also the districts within the county move about. I really needed the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries to build a graph of what is going on throughout the years. Now if I could just figure out how to identify some females in my family that married a relative but there is no family by that name in the county. My bugaboo.

[@sharontabor7718]

That's when you check neighboring counties within a 20 miles radius of the bride's family before the 1850s when the railroad made transportation easier.

[@baltojo]

My great grandmother was born in Ribeauvillé, Alsace, France. About 10 years later, her sister was born in the same house, but it was then Rapoltsweiler, Germany. They came to the US in the 1890’s but her sister returned home in 1901. I after World War I, the area went back to French control. In 1940, Hitler annexed the area and the sister her children and grandchildren lost their French citizenship and their names were changed to German ones. Their town was liberated three weeks before my great grandmother died. Since she never became an American citizen, I imagine that she also flip-flopped from French to German to French to German. I have another ancestor who was born across the river in what is now Saarland, Germany. For an about 15 years, including when she was born, it was under Napoleon’s control, so her birth record is in French. On a simpler scale, my great grandfather grew up in a house in a major U.S. city when the address system changed. I thought they had moved a few blocks away, but then I found an ad for the family business that gave the cross street and realized the numbers had changed. As a matter of fact the street name also changed a few years before that.

[@ventalexandria7727]

Great job at this explanation and presentation!

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@patriciajrs46]

This is really good idea. Looking for records in the NE corner of TN used to belong to NC.

[@lonewolf9105]

Thank you for this information🙂. My childhood home in Ohio used to have a different mailing address. It was a rural route with numbers. It was changed when I was a small kid to the actual road name.

[@CricketsBay]

Same. Except Iowa.

[@cathyc6725]

I have Noble Co., OH people. I have to go look for them in Guernsey Co. then keep in mind Batesville used to to Williamsburg. LOL!

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

It's always so fun when towns change names 😂

[@fishinwidow35]

Northern Maine was once part of Canada. the boundary was changed in 1839. People would say they were born in Maine to Census workers so they would be US citizens.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

How they answered the birth question on the census wouldn't have had a bearing on them being US citizens. (Not formally, anyhow.) It's a situation similar to people who were born in what became West Virginia after they were born. They would often answer the birth place question as "West Virginia," simply because it was easier to say that than try to explain they were born in a county that was Virginia when they were born, but is West Virginia now.

[@fishinwidow35]

@@AmyJohnsonCrow In the area they lived in it did make a difference. In fact, they (spouses) wanted their headstone to state they were Born in Maine and were barred so it only has their surname on it, no other information. Some of the islands in that area are still "International". My 3rd great grandfather was a militia man during the Aroostook War. Land grants from the American Revolution were also involved. It was quite complicated.

[@tiffanymims8691]

I know in Springfield, Missouri many addresses changed in 1947 because of the standardization of addresses for the postal service. I wonder how many other cities did this around that time. My 3x great-grandparent's house number changed from 820 to 819 because someone had misnumbered the road with the kdds and evens on the wrong side. They had been deceased for years but when I was looking for the correct house just a few years ago I had to take that in consideration to find the right house.

[@jayhawk405]

My grandparent's address changed from 702 C Street to 702 Church Street. The township decided to rename all the one letter street names. township, county remained the same

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Always fun when cities and towns decide to rename streets or renumber the houses! (It's made things interesting looking for some people in the 1950 census!)

[@maryward613]

I'm 64 years old. Talking with my Aunt & discussing that she & her sister, my mom, were half Swedish & half German like I had heard my whole life! She now tells me that we are Danes, not German. And that last names ending in sen are Danes! The boundary line was taken over by the Germans. The story of my grandfather getting a draft notice from the Germans made him so mad he burned it in the fireplace. It makes more sense now. So glad the family flead to America!

[@dlancaster8438]

I lived in a 100 plus year house in South Carolina. The address (street numbers) changed when 911 went through. If you are looking for someone at a certain address on that street 100 years ago, it’s going to be the wrong house.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

House numbers and even street names can change! So important to think about it as it was at the time.

[@CricketsBay]

I lived in NW Iowa in the late 1980's and early 1990's when the E911 addressing changes were being put into effect. 1 day we had a new address and no say about it and notice was sent far in advance to the landlord, who lived in Wyoming, not us. Neither the landlord nor the county notified us this would be happening. I can see how it could cause problems with genealogy research as well.

[@talentonboard2456]

This was so helpful! Do you know if there is an atlas like that for Canada or the UK? Thank you for this though.!

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

I don't know of any sites quite like the Newberry's Atlas of Historical County Boundaries for Canada or the UK, but a good place to get started would be the FamilySearch Research Wiki. familysearch.org/wiki (Look for the county/province that you're interested in.)

[@raynonabohrer5624]

That's me. I've been here for 40 years and I've got 5 different addresses. Someone moving that trailer down the road. And I get a new address. Thank you us Post Office.

[@jayburris6252]

Nice! I have a Great Grandfather I can’t find. I’ll try this!

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Good luck! I hope this helps!

[@savannahblues7513]

My grandmother said her family was from Pennsylvania, but found out she meant Pittsylvania County Virginia only after spending many months searching in the wrong state.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

I spent time trying to find someone in Indiana before I realized the record I was looking at was referring to Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Oops.

[@Plowboy1952]

@@AmyJohnsonCrow 👏👏👋👍👍👍

[@carlthornton3076]

Very Good!... #43 ✝ {5-20-2022}

[@KristinaUSA-x5n]

On my mother's side of the family they immigrated from Austro-Hungary from what became Czechoslovakia and Poland and Ukraine, so it is hard finding out as much. Also my dad's last name is Turner, so it is a really common name.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

That can be such a difficult area to research. There are more records being digitized and put online via FamilySearch and other organizations, but it still has a long way to go.

[@KristinaUSA-x5n]

@@AmyJohnsonCrow I found out by My Heritage and Ancestry DNA tests and uploaded my DNA tests and Ancestry and My Heritage Family Tree GedComs and the records linked (there are more on the Turner side of the family than the Czechoslovakian and Polish Karban side (the Vatican and Anglican and Swedish churches I am sure have more of the records). I am have found my family has ties to both the Vatican and Protestant Reformation and were kicked out of Switzerland and Scotland and founded the USA and continually fight each other and those in secret societies know more and have more of the inheritance and family genealogy records. Those that fought against slavery were disinherited and had to buy land from other family and they used trusts to keep control of people. I think my family is tied to the European royal families and Mafia and they keep feuding among each other with wars.

[@waynestepler7173]

I had a different problem that I am trying to find. When I was a baby, I lived at a house with 3 digits, I went back to the area and all the house numbers are 4 digits. How can I find the what the old number was changed to? I tried the Township offices, but no one knows. They did say that they thought it was for post office as there was another street in town with similar numbers.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

If the town has city directories, you could try looking through those in the time period it changed.

[@tedbrown7908]

Ancestry and family search don't have ALL of the records they say they do. Even the historical books on county vital records don't have all of the vital records. That is the frustrating part.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Yes, it's frustrating when they have a collection called something like "Indiana, Marriage Records 1800-1990" and it only contains a handful of counties and a handful of years for each. So important to read the introduction or "about" page for any database or website you're using.

[@howardmccarthy5811]

My grandmother was adopted by my “great grandfather”. I know her birth father’s name but absolutely nothing else. I have gotten no hints or suggestions related to his name on Ancestry or Heritage. Where do I start the search for information on this man?

[@hyacinth4368]

Start with census records. Locate great grandpa with adopted daughter, then work back. Who was mother of child? Check neighbors, even read thru entire county census.

[@lillianliber1798]

My grandfather grew up in Rawalpindi when it was in India. It is now in Pakistan. I am thinking that is the reason for my brick wall?

[@mbrakes23]

Had one ancestor born in Russia, died in Ukraine. Same town. Border moved.